Poor blocking and tackling were two of the biggest reasons for the Estevan Sherritt Coal Miners' loss to the Yorkton Gridders on Saturday.
The Gridders improved to 4-0 on the season with a 35-0 victory in the atom contest.
Miners head coach Wanda Harron said she wasn't happy with the team's effort.
"I'll be very blunt, I'm very disappointed. This week, to try to improve our offence, we tried working on 1-on-1 blocking, using some of our receivers and slotbacks to block, we just worked on blocking drills, and it clearly wasn't there.
"Defensively, we had kids coming up to the line of scrimmage just standing there. Tackling was horrible, one-armed tackles, not breaking down. Honestly, I really don't know what it is, if it was because we had team pictures at 9 o'clock and had kids dressed and ready at 9, or what we've done as coaches, but it was just across the board a horrible effort. Some kids would be in it one play, other kids not in it another play."
The Gridders got on the board in the first quarter on a touchdown that was almost stopped.
"Yorkton's very first touchdown, we had that guy in the backfield and he escaped, I bet you, three tacklers, and ran right in," said Harron.
They added another major on the last play of the first quarter, on a 31-yard run where the Miners again almost brought down the ball carrier behind the line of scrimmage.
Late in the second quarter, the Gridders added a 28-yard rushing touchdown to take a 21-0 lead at the half.
Any hope of an Estevan comeback in the second half was snuffed out quickly, as Yorkton scored on a 65-yard run on the first play from scrimmage.
The visitors closed out the scoring with 42 seconds left in the game on a 28-yard running play.
The Gridders' defence seemed to get into the backfield at will throughout the game and Harron said that was a contributing factor, adding that a lack of organization on the sideline, with the team often going on the field with 13 or 11 players, was also disappointing.
One bright spot for the home side was Jonah Bachorcik, who made more than his share of tackles on defence and special teams and also reeled in an interception in the second quarter.
Harron added that Boden Dukart and Alaura Florizone also had encouraging games on the defensive side of the ball.
The Miners host Weyburn on Sunday at 11 a.m. at Dana Quewezance Memorial Field.
